


Short Falls & Little Sins

by Silveny-Dreams (VintageOT5)



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Barrel racing, Bull Riding, Cowboy Hats, Cowboys & Cowgirls, Gen, Howdy, I dreamt Fitz was a rich cowboy and couldn't stop thinking about it and now this happened, Rodeos, San Diego, cattle ranches, montana, there might be ships later on!, they just haven't happened yet, yeehaw, yippee-oh-ki-yay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-02-23 20:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18709366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VintageOT5/pseuds/Silveny-Dreams
Summary: Sophie Foster lost everything in the San Diego wildfires. When she can't find her family, she's sent to live with her closest relatives - distant, distant cousins of her mom's she's never met, a couple named Grady and Edaline Ruewen.They live in Montana. Montana has a lot more cowboys than Sophie expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yup; this is the cowboy AU nobody asked for but that we all deserve.
> 
> Title is a lyric from the title song “The Outsiders” by Needtobreathe. I guarantee you if you listen to it, you will know the EXACT vibe of this fic. (Pretty much any song on their albums The Heat, The Outsiders, and The Reckoning got me in the mood to write this thing, so 10/10 recommend.)

Sophie Elizabeth Foster realized two things quickly when she stepped off the bus into Eternalia, Montana.

The first was that the sky was much bigger than she’d realized. It was stupid that she hadn’t noticed, but the sky over Eternalia felt so much bigger than it had been in San Diego. She couldn’t help craning her neck up and letting the deep, vast blue swallow her—while San Diego’s skies were bright and jewel-toned, Montana’s skies were definitely deeper.

The second thing she realized was that she was lost.

In her defense, it wasn’t entirely her fault. She didn’t _make_ the social worker walk off to who knew where, leaving her alone at the bus stop. But, in retrospect, she probably should have listened to him when he’d told her where he was going.

She’d still had her headphones on with the volume maxed out from the long bus ride from West Yellowstone Airport. She’d known it was a little rude to straight up ignore the social worker—some bald, wrinkly old guy with a weird last name, Forkle—but ever since the fire and evacuation, all Sophie had wanted was to be left alone. She _definitely_ hadn’t wanted to go to Montana—these Ruewens she’d never heard of were somehow her mother’s closest relation, so she’d been told they were her best bet—but of course she hadn’t had any choice in the matter. So she took the small moments of peace (if peace was even the word for it) when she could get them, even if it might’ve been rude to Mr. Forkle. All he would’ve done was awkwardly point out the scenery every five minutes, and while Sophie _was_ surprised at how beautiful Montana was—wide, green plains, clusters of pines in the distance, clear blue streams, even mountains on the horizon—she didn’t want to discuss it with Mr. Forkle.

She hadn’t bothered turning her music down when they’d stepped off the bus. So when Mr. Forkle had spoken to her, Sophie had nodded along, both to whatever he said and to her music. In truth, she hadn’t listened to him very much ever since she’d met him, what with the way he liked to grumble things about “you kids” and the way he smelled like feet. Things were already bad enough, and Mr. Forkle was just a painful reminder that all of it wasn’t some horrible, sadistic nightmare. A painful, smelly reminder.

Everyone waiting at the Eternalia bus stop boarded the bus after they disembarked. Mr. Forkle walked off to wherever, and Sophie finally turned her music off and hung her headphones around her neck. She waited around awkwardly for about twenty minutes, clutching the straps of her backpack and craning her head up every now and then to stare into that vast, deep blue sky.

But the longer she stood there, the more concerned she got. Passersby on the sidewalk behind the stop smiled passively at her or tipped their hats—there were a lot of cowboys in Montana, Sophie realized—but they kept walking. So she decided to step away before another bus showed up, thinking she was a passenger. Maybe Mr. Forkle had returned to the wrong bus stop. Maybe he’d forgotten.

 _Wouldn’t that just be the way_. Sophie wandered down the sidewalk, looking at all her new surroundings. Wouldn’t it just be like life to stick it to her one more time and leave her stranded in the boonies. No home, no family, not even a familiar area.

 _Just small-town-ish shops like “Elwin’s Clinic” and “Dizznee’s Drugstore”,_ Sophie read off the signs on the buildings across the road.

There was no need to keep wandering the direction she was; it was just farther from the bus stop. And maybe Mr. Forkle hadn’t forgotten; maybe he’d just gotten caught up saying “you kids” to someone else. She turned on her heel and looked up at the sky again.

Which is why she didn’t realize she was running straight into someone until it was too late.

“Gah,” Sophie gasped, nearly toppling over. Except a strong, tanned arm reached out and grabbed her, keeping her upright enough to steady herself back onto her feet.

“Sorry, ma’am,” a voice that could not, in Sophie’s estimation, sound more like a cowboy’s, said from above her.

Sophie shrugged, looking up. “It’s fi...”

Before this, Sophie was considering making the deep blue of the Montana sky her new favorite color. But now, looking up into the face of a boy around her age, she realized she was wrong. Teal. Teal was her favorite color.

That was the color of this boy’s eyes. Sophie knew she was staring, but she wasn’t sure she could help it. She’d never seen anyone with eyes that color before. They _sparkled_ , almost. And they definitely complemented his dark brown hair and his green-and-blue plaid.

The boy raised his eyebrows, and Sophie realized he must have asked her a question.

“I—what?” she stammered, feeling her dreaded splotchy blush rise on her face. “Sorry, what?”

The boy grinned, and his eyes sparkled more. Sophie felt her blush worsen; cowboy he may be, but this boy was cute.

“I asked if you were lost,” he said again, slipping his hands into his jeans pockets up to the thumbs.

“Why do you think I’m lost?” Sophie asked without really thinking.

The boy shrugged, still smiling. “Never seen you around before.”

“Oh.” Sophie hitched her thumbs around her backpack straps, still staring at the boy. “I guess this must be a small town.”

“Maybe you’ve just got a memorable face.”

Sophie didn’t know how her blush could get worse, but somehow she felt it doing just that. “Um.”

“Or maybe we’re both right,” the boy admitted, grinning. “Can I help you find where you’re going?”

“Just back to the bus stop,” Sophie said. “I’m supposed to meet someone.”

One of the boy’s eyebrows quirked. “You wouldn’t be Miss Sophie Foster, would you?”

Sophie blinked in shock. “Um. Yes.”

“Just the girl I wanted to see,” the boy said, and gosh darn it, Sophie managed to blush _even more_. “Name’s Fitz. Fitz Vacker. That guy Forkle sent me to fetch you; the Ruewens are swamped with work late into tonight, so he arranged for you to stay the night with my family.”

Oh. That made a lot more sense. Now her blush was in embarrassment instead of flattery. “Ohh. Hi.”

Fitz extended the hand he’d caught her with, and when Sophie shook it, she tried not to be stupid, ignoring the fact that his hands made hers feel tiny and that they were calloused, like he did a lot of work with them.

Fitz turned and looked over at the bus stop, then back at Sophie, tilting his head. “This all you brought along?”

Sophie’s grip on her backpack straps tightened a little, and she shrugged. “I don’t need much.”

More like she hadn’t grabbed much when she evacuated. And she knew from the file Mr. Forkle had that anyone he trusted enough to leave Sophie with would know that, too.

But Fitz shrugged back, not asking any questions, not looking at her with pity. “Fine by me. Saves me having to be a gentleman and carry things.”

Sophie cracked a smile for the first time in what felt like ages.

“Dad wanted to swing by the arena before we met up with y’all, but he should be done around now. That’s where Forkle found us.”

Sophie didn’t know what the arena was, but she figured it didn’t matter.

“Yup, there they are,” Fitz said, nodding and lifting his hand to a charcoal Hummer heading their way.

Sophie turned to watch it approach and felt a smirk try to inch its way onto her face. _Wow. They’re cowboys, all right_. She couldn’t remember seeing more than three Hummers in San Diego her whole life.

The Hummer slowed to a stop next to them, and the driver’s window rolled down.

Sophie saw immediately where Fitz got his looks. The man behind the wheel was a well-aged version of Fitz, with laugh lines in the corners of his teal eyes and tiny wisps of silver touching the roots of his darker hair.

He also wore a cowboy hat. _Like father, like son._ Cowboy confirmed.

“Howdy,” he said, smiling. “Are you Miss Foster?”

Sophie nodded once.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Alden Vacker. I’m a friend of Grady and Edaline Ruewen’s,” he said, cocking his head at the door to the back seats. “Y’all can hop right in.”

“I see you kids already met,” Mr. Forkle said from the passenger seat, his sharp gaze on Sophie.

Sophie offered him an awkward, forced grimace-smile and followed behind Fitz, sliding her backpack into her lap as she climbed into the back seat.

“Errol tells me y’all had an okay trip,” Alden said as Sophie shut the car door and the Hummer began moving again.

“Yeah,” she said, not sure how else to respond.

"Beautiful country out here,” Forkle told Alden. “I don’t know if Miss Foster noticed much of it. She’s a woman of few words.”

“Don’t blame you,” Fitz whispered to her. “He seems nice, but he’s a little...um...”

Sophie and Fitz shared a look, and his smirk made her want to smirk back.

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time and space to see what there is to see,” Alden said, sharing a knowing look with her in the rearview mirror. “We might not be San Diego, but we got some sights here and there.”

The Hummer turned a corner, and Sophie’s eyes widened.

“Oh,” she said.

The buildings in town had hidden the view of a gorgeous, snow-capped mountain range in the distance.

“Something wrong?” Fitz asked.

Sophie shook her head. “You have mountains.”

“Oh,” Fitz looked surprised. He turned to look where Sophie was looking. “Yeah. Sure do. No mountains around San Diego?”

Sophie shook her head again. “Not like this. Mostly just ocean.”

Fitz sighed. “Jealous. We’re pretty landlocked here.”

Sophie could tell that the minute she smelled the air in Montana. She hadn’t realized the air in San Diego was salty until she was gone. How Fitz could be jealous of _her_ when he lived in such gorgeous country was beyond her, though. The landscape was the kind that she and Amy had had pictures of, the kind they had always dreamed of visiting.

Sophie wrapped her arms around her backpack and stared out the window; she couldn’t think too much about Amy.

“So tell us a little about you, Miss Sophie,” Alden said once they were out of town and zooming along flat country road. “And we can tell you a little about us.”

Sophie shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. “Um…I’ve lived in San Diego my whole life. Haven’t been anywhere else, except sometimes to Phoenix to visit my great-grandmom before she died. I’m, uh, almost fourteen—”

“Really? When’s your birthday?” Fitz asked.

 “It’s in September. On the fifteenth.”

“Huh, okay,” Fitz murmured, nodding to himself. “Then that makes me…around half a year older than you, I think. And that means you’re a little older than Biana.”

“Biana’s my daughter,” Alden explained. “My youngest. There’s me and my wife, Della, and then our two sons and daughter.”

“Plus a couple herd dogs, a handful of horses, and a whole lotta cattle,” Fitz said, grinning in a way that made Sophie guess that Alden said this a lot.

Alden chuckled. “Ain’t that the truth. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn’t just make our place the Everglen Zoo and charge an entry fee.”

They had enough animals to open a zoo?

“We only ever had a cat,” Sophie mumbled, not sure how she was going to fit in with people who owned half the animal population when she’d only had a pet that was mainly self-sufficient.

“Biana’s always wanted a house cat,” Fitz mused. “None of the barn cats have ever taken to her, though, so she’s about given up.”

“Not if she's reminded about it, though,” Alden added, giving Fitz a warning look. “So don’t go around bringing it up. We do just fine without a house cat. Those things make me sneeze.”

Sophie felt a corner of her mouth twitch a little, like she wanted to grin. Memories of her father having sneezing fits when their calico cat, Marty, curled up in his lap floated through her mind.

Any urge to smile quickly vanished. She couldn’t think too much about her father, either. Or Marty.

“We’re almost to the edge of our land,” Fitz said after a comfortable silence.

Sophie sat up. “Oh. Are we almost there?”

Fitz chuckled. “Oh, well, not really. We’ve got a lot of land. Have to let the cattle spread out and all.”

“Oh,” Sophie mumbled, feeling a little foolish. Of course they had a lot of land; they had enough animals for a zoo.

“I expect things are different in California,” Alden offered, his eyes crinkling kindly.

Sophie nodded. “I might be out of my depth.”

“Eh, don’t worry,” Fitz reassured her, grinning in a way that made Sophie feel like she had a cloud of butterflies in her stomach. “We’re here to help you learn all about it.”

“Does everyone have a lot of land?” Sophie asked, staring out her window at the handful of cattle in the field by the road.

“Not everyone. But even people with not as much land still have an acre or so.”

Sophie shook her head. “My backyard was tiny.”

Her family had always wanted a big yard so they could have a dog, but big yards cost big money, and her family wasn’t rich. _And it makes no difference now, anyway._ Sophie felt the familiar weight of the stone in her stomach at this thought; it had settled in the day of the evacuation and never left.

“What are...” Sophie paused. “What are Grady and Edaline like?”

She knew what Mr. Forkle had told her, but that amounted to “they’re distant cousins of your mother’s and they live in Montana”. So, not much.

“The Ruewens are _super_ cool,” Fitz said. “They run this rehabilitation ranch for injured or wild cattle and horses.”

“They’re the best livestock veterinarians around,” Alden added. “Whenever one of our animals is sick or hurt, we always call them first. My wife and Edaline have been close ever since college, and Grady can tell one hell of a joke when he’s relaxed enough.”

Sophie pictured an older Harrison Ford and her mom’s best friend, unsure how she felt.

“Their daughter, Jolie, was the fastest barrel racer anyone’d ever seen. Alvar had this huge crush on her when he was younger. She was part of why he does bull riding now.”

Sophie blinked, heart softening. “Was?”

Fitz looked a little uncomfortable. “Oh. She was in a pretty awful accident in the arena years back and didn’t make it.”

Something clicked in her mind. “Arena...”

“We own the arena where all the rodeos in town happen,” Alden said, and Sophie saw his grip on the steering wheel get a little tighter. “Didn’t have as many medics on hand back then. It’s mighty big of Grady and Edaline not to blame us for what happened.”

“Sometimes things just happen,” Sophie said, quietly enough it was almost a whisper.

Fitz looked at her, concern furrowing his brow. “Hey, you okay?”

Sophie knew Forkle was looking at her with his sharp, knowing gaze, so she pulled it back together and slid on her blank look. She did _not_ want to go to pieces in front of Forkle, and especially not in front of a cute boy. “Yep. So, veterinarians, huh? Do they have enough animals for a zoo, too?”

Fitz laughed, and Sophie felt her blank look softening. “I dunno about that, but they _do_ have a few permanent residents who don’t take well to rehabilitation.”

“Yes, their resident draft horse is rather memorable,” Alden commented, amusement in his voice.

Sophie was grateful for all the information she could get on the Ruewens and their lives; anything she could go in knowing beforehand was valuable, since Sophie planned on being as little of a burden as possible.

“There we are,” Alden said after a while, nodding to a shape in the distance. “Home sweet home.”

Sophie scooted a little farther forward and leaned towards Fitz’s side of the seat, watching the shape grow ever bigger. Her eyebrows raised; they were still a considerable ways away, and it already looked bigger than a normal house.

“Do you guys, um...have a barn attached?” Sophie asked, pretty sure as she asked it that it was a stupid question.

“Nah, we let the animals keep to themselves. The barn is a little ways behind the house,” Fitz explained.

Right. Well. The Vacker’s house was already at least twice the size of her home in San Diego. _So they’re_ rich _cowboys_.

“Beautiful place you have,” Mr. Forkle commented as they finally pulled alongside the house and turned onto the long driveway.

“How big is your family again?” Sophie asked Fitz quietly. This house looked big enough to be a resort of some kind. It almost looked like the friggin’ Great Wolf Lodge that some of Sophie's school friends went to in Anaheim for vacations. It looked like it needed its own parking lot.

“It’s a little much,” Fitz said, and Sophie realized he was embarrassed. Why was _he_ embarrassed? “Used to belong to my great-great-gramps, Fallon Vacker. The entire Vacker clan used to live here. But we’re the only ones who stayed in the business and the area, so now it’s just us. We host all the family reunions.”

“I’ll bet,” Sophie said, offering Fitz a half-smile to reassure him.

Alden killed the engine and turned to look at the back seat. “Welcome to Everglen Ranch, Miss Sophie. And welcome to Montana.”

Sophie felt a little flutter of panic— _you can’t do this you can’t do this you can’t do this—_ but then Fitz grinned and winked at her, opening his door, and Sophie felt the panic loosen its grip on her chest just slightly. Fitz was confident. Fitz was friendly. And he’d already told her he’d be willing to help her adjust.

How bad could it be to have a cute cowboy on her side?

So Sophie followed him out, steeling herself for the unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEEHAW Y'ALL.
> 
> Comment and let me know your thoughts! I'm dying to know what you think!

Sophie didn’t know what she’d expected the other Vackers to look like, but “supermodels” had not crossed her mind. Although, after seeing what Fitz and Alden looked like, Sophie wondered if maybe it _should_ have been on the table.

“Home again, home again!” Alden called into the house as everyone walked into the mud room and removed their shoes.

“Jiggety-jog!” A woman’s voice replied from beyond the mud room, sounding amused. “We’re finishing up the lemonade!”

“Jiggety-jog?” Sophie whispered as she toed off her beat-up black converse.

“Like that one nursery rhyme, To Market To Market,” Fitz whispered back, looking embarrassed again. “ _Home again, home again, jiggety-jog?_ ”

A vague childhood memory of the rhyme tickled the back of Sophie’s brain. “Oh, right.”

“My family is weird.”

“It’s fine, all families are weird,” Sophie replied, and almost gave him an example from her own family, but the words got stuck in her throat.

Sophie and Fitz trailed behind Alden and Mr. Forkle out of the mud room and through a hallway to an open-concept kitchen and living room.

That’s where two of the most beautiful people Sophie had ever seen were standing.

“You must be Sophie Foster,” a tall woman with long, wavy, dark brown hair and brilliantly aqua eyes said as Sophie finally came into view. She looked like she’d just walked off a photo shoot—her floral midi dress and denim jacket were impeccable.

She was the only lady Sophie had ever met who didn’t look cheesy wearing cowgirl boots.

“Hi,” Sophie breathed, embarrassed all of a sudden. _Embarrassed of what? Not being a supermodel, too?_

 _“_ I’m Fitz’s mom, Della,” the woman said, and Sophie swore this woman’s smile could melt even the coldest heart.

Della approached Sophie, her arms opening. “Is it all right if I hug you? My family says I’m a hugger.”

“That’s ‘cuz it’s true,” Fitz stage-whispered, and Sophie swallowed back a snort.

“Uh, sure,” Sophie told Della.

If Della was a supermodel, then she was the warmest, most approachable supermodel ever. Sophie felt the stone in her stomach lodge itself in her throat as Della wrapped her in a hug. She had to grit her teeth and force herself with every fiber of her concentration to force back the tears forming in her eyes and swap them for her blank look.

“Welcome to our home,” Della said brightly as she stepped back. “You’re welcome to visit anytime.”

“Thanks,” Sophie rasped. _Shoot_. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Thanks. Thanks for having me.”

“Tonight’s a busy night for foaling season, so the Ruewens are swamped with work. They didn’t want you to have to meet them at their most exhausted and smelly,” Della explained. “So we’re glad to have you here for your first night in Montana.”

Sophie nodded, feeling shy.

“My oldest is out in the bull pen, practicing,” Della said, resting her hands on her hips and looking over at the large window in the living room. “Darlin’, would you mind corralling him inside? Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alden said, grinning and giving Della a quick peck on the cheek as he walked past.

Sophie felt a pang at the gesture, a fleeting memory of her own parents flashing through her mind, but it was gone in an instant.

“You’ve met Fitz already, and I _hope_ ,” Della said, a look of warning in her eyes as she glanced at Fitz, “that he was being a gentleman.”

“Ma,” Fitz groaned, ducking his head.

“Oh, uhm. He was very polite,” Sophie said, feeling her blush incriminate her.

“That’s my boy,” Della grinned and pulled him into a side-hug, planting a kiss on the top of his head. Fitz possibly looked more embarrassed than Sophie felt, but all Sophie could think was that Fitz was lucky.

“And that’s my youngest, there with the lemonade. Biana?”

The other woman Sophie had seen—at least, Sophie had assumed she was older, since she was equally as stunning as Della—let go of the wooden spoon she was stirring the lemonade pitcher with and stepped around the kitchen island towards them all.

Sophie felt her throat go dry; seriously, what _was_ it with all these Vackers? Was there something in the water out here in Montana?

Biana Vacker looked to be growing up to be even more stunning than her mother. Same long, brown hair, same teal eyes, similar sense of fashion—Sophie hadn’t realized anybody could pull off plaid shirt dresses like that.

Biana’s smile was shy, tentative, as she approached.

 _There’s no possible way someone this pretty can actually be nice_ , Sophie thought as she swallowed.

“Um...hi,” Sophie said lamely, deciding to keep her blank look in check. Maybe if she didn’t look like she was in awe of how beautiful Biana was, Sophie wouldn’t end up on Biana’s bad side.

For a flicker of a moment, Sophie saw Biana’s smile falter—that couldn’t be right—but then it was back, but...different. Biana’s eyes trailed up and down coolly, as if sizing Sophie up.

“Are those unicorn socks?” Biana asked.

Sophie felt her face burn red as she glanced down at her feet. Sure enough, the socks she’d chosen to wear today were the ones with the alicorns on them. “Uhm, alicorns, actually.”

Biana raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “What?”

“They’re unicorns with wings,” Sophie explained, feeling her face get redder and redder. _Find something in common with her—anything. “_ They’re like horses, but with...special features.”

 _Nice going_ , Sophie told herself drily, feeling like her face was on fire.

Biana’s smirk only made it worse. “Hm.”

“They’re cute,” Fitz offered, smiling at Sophie, and oh god, now it was worse. It was bad enough that the prettiest girl Sophie had ever seen was poking fun at her socks, but now Fitz probably thought she was childish.

 _Off to a great start_ , Sophie thought.

It appeared Della thought this was all a friendly exchange. “From what I hear, it sounds like the two of you will be in the same grade. Now you’ll have someone to sit with at lunch on your first day.”

The look in Biana’s eyes told Sophie _if you try to sit with me at lunch, it won’t go well for you,_ so Sophie mumbled, “Oh, um, yeah, maybe.”

“Looks like I’m missing all the excitement!”

Sophie turned and saw Alden walking back in through the back door, a young man following behind.

 _Wow_ , Sophie thought as she studied Alvar. _Fitz’s future is bright_. Although she hoped that when Fitz grew up, he wouldn’t do the same thing with his hair that Alvar did—Sophie preferred Fitz’s hairstyle over Alvar’s mostly-slicked-back look.

“You must be Miss Sophie,” Alvar said, grinning and extending a hand. “I’m Alvar. Looks like you’re getting to know our crazy family.”

“Hi,” Sophie said as she extended her hand and basically let Alvar shake her whole arm—his grip was _strong_.

“You’ll stay for dinner, won’t you, Errol? I made the one dish I know how to make,” Della asked Mr. Forkle.

Sophie turned again and saw Mr. Forkle lingering back by the entryway. He smiled wryly. “That sounds lovely. I have to decline, however, I’m afraid.”

“You’re leaving?” The words were out of Sophie’s mouth before she could take them back.

Mr. Forkle’s gaze shifted to Sophie. “Unfortunately, yes, Miss Foster. I need to take my leave to catch my flight back to San Diego tonight.”

Sophie hadn’t realized he was a lifeline until now. “Oh.”

“Are you sure?” Della asked again. “At least let us give you a ride back into town.”

“No need, I’ve already arranged a ride, and it’s here,” Forkle said.

Sophie took a deep breath in and out. “Well, uh…thanks for, um, bringing me out here.”

Mr. Forkle’s usually-sharp gaze softened. He took something out of his back pocket and reached into the side of his suit blazer, emerging with a business card and pen. He scribbled something down and leaned down, holding the card out to Sophie.

She took it and looked; Mr. Forkle had jotted down a phone number.

“You call me whenever you need to,” he said quietly. “I mean it. And I’ll be in touch with you. I’ll probably be back in a few weeks to make sure everything’s going well.”

Sophie couldn’t do anything but nod.

“These people aren’t the worst people to be left with, are they?” Forkle said softly enough that only Sophie could hear, and he smiled.

Sophie made herself smile back; despite how strange he was and how weird he smelled, Mr. Forkle was nice, and she didn’t want him to worry about her.

Mr. Forkle straightened, adjusting his suit jacket.

 “I’m glad to know I’m leaving Miss Foster in such generous hands.”

Sophie tried to feel reassured by that, but “I’m leaving Miss Foster” was the part that stuck.

“We’ll take good care of her, and so will the Ruewens,” Alden said, smiling at Sophie in encouragement. “Let me see you to the door, Errol.”

“Fitz, would you mind removing one place setting from the table?” Della said as Alden and Mr. Forkle walked back through the entryway. “Biana, bring the pitcher into the dining room. Everything else is ready. Let’s go ahead and eat.”

Sophie trailed behind Della into the dining room, blinking. “Wow. Um. Nice view.”

One wall of the dining room was all windows, overlooking rolling pastures, towering pines, and snow-capped mountains not far off in the distance.

“Not bad, huh?” Della said, smiling. “It’s even better in the morning, when the sun comes up and lights up the mountains. You’ll be in for a treat at breakfast tomorrow.”

Sophie made sure she got a seat at the dining table where she could look outside.

Biana came in carrying the lemonade pitcher. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Fitz taking the seat next to Sophie, so Sophie chose to direct her attention anywhere but at her.

When Alden returned, and everyone was at the table, both Alden and Alvar removed their hats.

“Alright, everyone, let’s say grace,” Alden said, holding out his hands.

Della and Fitz took them, and Fitz turned and offered his other hand to Sophie, a smile quirking at his lips.

Sophie did her best to fight the blush and took his hand, and then Alvar’s. She _definitely_ didn’t want to know what Biana’s face looked like now.

Everyone bowed their heads, and Alden began to say grace. Sophie tried not to fidget; saying grace wasn’t usually part of her family’s routine—they’d only done it a couple of times with Sophie’s great-grandmom years back. She felt a little awkward as Alden said thanks for Sophie being there, but she knew he meant well, and at least he didn’t carry on saying grace for what felt like years, the way her great-grandmom used to.

She dropped Fitz’s hand like it was on fire at “amen” and glanced at Biana, who looked a little less stiff once everyone sat down.

As it turned out, the only dish Della Vacker knew how to make was a very delicious lasagna.

“Ask any of them, they’ll tell you I can’t cook for beans,” Della said as she served Sophie a generous piece of lasagna with garlic bread.

“She burnt boxed macaroni and cheese once when I was seven,” Alvar stage-whispered to Sophie, grinning. “Nothing like blackened, charred cheese-noodles for lunch.”

“You’ll be in _much_ better hands with the Ruewens,” Della admitted. “Edaline is excellent in the kitchen, and Grady does some mighty good grilling. All I have in my cooking repertoire is this pitifully simple recipe.”

“This is really good,” Sophie mumbled around a bite of lasagna, covering her mouth.

Everyone else at the table agreed, and Della beamed.

What Sophie assumed was typical Vacker dinner talk ensued after a brief silence full only of scratching forks and chewing, and Sophie was more than happy to melt into the background and listen as she ate. Some of it had to do with the ranch and the cattle, some of it had to do with the arena and its upkeep, and some of it was just regular family talk, school and grades and extra-curriculars. Every now and then someone would engage Sophie in the conversation, and she’d shrug or nod, but they didn’t seem to expect more out of her, which was a relief.

It was dark outside by the time dinner wrapped up—Alden broke out a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream and doled out a few scoops to everyone at the end of the meal.

“It’s Friday evening,” Fitz said while everyone cleared their dishes from the table. “Are we going to have the usual game night?”

“That depends on our guest,” Della replied as she turned on the sink and started rinsing plates. “Miss Sophie, are you okay with playing a board game tonight?”

Sophie bit her lip. “Um…I mean, I can. I’m a little tired.”

“You’ve probably had a long day,” Della said sympathetically. “You can get settled in your room instead, of you’d like.”

“But I don’t want to ruin your game night or anything,” Sophie mumbled.

“Nah, you won’t ruin anything,” Fitz reassured her. “We’d rather you got some rest if that’s what you want.”

“Will you show her to her guest room upstairs, darlin’?” Della asked Fitz as she loaded rinsed dishes into the dishwasher.

“Which one?” Fitz asked.

 _Of course they have more than one guest room_ , Sophie thought, almost smiling.

“I changed the sheets and tidied up the Moonlark room for her.”

 _Of_ course _they name their guest rooms._

 _“_ I love that one,” Fitz said, turning to Sophie and grinning. “You can grab your backpack and follow me.”

Sophie obeyed, quietly trailing Fitz as he wound through another hallway into a massive entryway, where a sweeping staircase ascended to another floor. Sophie blinked a few times gazing at the chandelier as they ascended the stairs—those _were_ antlers. The chandelier had antlers.

“Here’s the Moonlark room,” Fitz said after walking a ways down a hallway to the right of the stairs.

“Wow,” Sophie remarked as she stepped into the door Fitz opened for her.

The Moonlark room had light blue walls and a ceiling painted to look like a star-studded night sky. In the middle of the ceiling hung a large lamp, round and painted to look like a moon. Fitz flicked a switch, and the entire thing lit up with a warm glow. A large four-poster bed swathed with airy white canopy sat at one end of the room, looking big enough for three Sophies.

“This is awfully fancy for just me,” Sophie mumbled as she set her backpack down on a window seat on the far side of the room.

“Nah, you’re our guest!” Fitz insisted, grinning and making that cloud of butterflies in Sophie’s stomach start fluttering again. “This is definitely one of my favorite guest rooms. I got to help Momma decorate it. Sure beats the one Alvar helped decorate—that one looks like it’s got the all-seeing eye painted on the wall.”

Fitz rolled his eyes, and Sophie snorted.

“Hang on, there should be towels here,” Fitz said, frowning. “I’ll go find the nearest linen closet.”

Fitz left, and Sophie plopped down on the window seat, looking outside. This room faced the back of the house, and although it was dark out, Sophie thought she might be able to pick out the shape of a barn in the backyard.

Sophie turned from the window and opened her backpack, digging around for her toothbrush—garlic bread was good for only so long. She pulled out her blue stuffed elephant, Ella, and propped her in her lap. She hadn’t been able to grab much, but she would _never_ have left her house without Ella.

“Here you go—oh hey, you have a stuffed elephant?”

Sophie whipped her head up to see Fitz set down a few towels on the trunk at the base of the bed and move towards her, eyes on Ella. She felt her entire face glow bright red.

“Oh, um…yeah,” Sophie murmured, ducking her head. “I guess it’s a little childish.”

Fitz scoffed. “Please. If my room wasn’t on the other side of the house, I’d show you my stuffed dragon. Your elephant’s name couldn’t possibly be more embarrassing than my dragon’s name.”

“Um, this is Ella,” Sophie said, picking Ella up and holding her to her chest, glancing curiously at Fitz.

Fitz’s cheeks were a little pink, but he soldiered on. “Yeah, Ella is an actual name. I named my dragon when I was a toddler, and did I give him a normal name? Oh, no. His name is _Mr. Snuggles_.”

Sophie snorted in surprise, and then she burst into giggles. “Mr. Snuggles?”

Fitz looked sheepish, but he was grinning. “Yeah, smooth one on my part, right?”

Sophie nodded, still snickering. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed. It felt _good_ to do it again.

“He’s still on my bed, though,” Fitz said. “Feels weird to sleep without him. So no judgment from me.”

“Don’t tell your sister,” Sophie said as she got up and set Ella on the bed.

“My lips are sealed,” Fitz reassured her, miming zipping up his lips. “Also, there’s a bathroom right across the hall, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost trying to find one in the middle of the night.”

“Thanks,” Sophie murmured, feeling the exhaustion of the day start to creep over her.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Fitz said, moving towards the door. “If you hear people up and around at the crack of dawn, you don’t have to get up. We have stupidly early hours around here.”

“Okay,” Sophie said, smiling. It felt good to smile.

Fitz shut the door behind him, and Sophie had the barest presence of mind to change into her PJs and brush her teeth before flopping into bed and falling asleep in minutes.

 ***

All around Sophie was a world on fire.

Sophie pulled her shirt collar up over her nose and looked around, fear pounding painfully in her veins. Ash and smoke danced through the air like some kind of hellish snowfall. The crackling and roaring of rampant flame rang in her ears as the cars, buildings, and trees around her were engulfed in fire. Sophie saw the sign for the street she stood on and did a quick mental calculation. _Two blocks away. Need to hurry_.

“ _Mom, Dad!”_ Sophie shouted as she sprinted down the road, one arm up to shield her face from still-burning ash fluttering around. _“Amy! Marty!”_

Her voice didn’t feel loud enough; her throat kept gobbling back the words, making them smaller and smaller. She kept running, feeling the smoke sting her eyes and the heat make sweat pour down her back.

 _“MOM!”_ Sophie tried to scream. _“DAD!”_

But the words weren’t loud enough; it was as though the smoke swallowed them up.

She kept running, turning onto her street and stopping dead.

There was her family’s minivan, parked on the curb, trapped under a fallen burning tree. Something nagged at the back of her mind, reminded her that that wasn’t right, this wasn’t what actually happened, but that didn’t change what she saw in front of her. Sophie started walking again, nowhere near as fast as she wanted.

Shadows moved in the windows of the minivan. The entire vehicle jerked a couple times; Sophie wondered if it was someone trying to open a jammed door.

“Mom,” Sophie tried to scream, but it was a whisper. “Dad.”

Sophie tried to move—they were in there, they needed help—but her limbs would do nothing but walk slowly, steadily. She wasn’t going to make it in time; there was nothing she could do.

And yet her body kept moving forward. _No_ , Sophie thought as she drew ever closer, _no. I don’t want to see. If I can’t help, I don’t want to see_. She tried to stop, tried to make her legs stop moving, but she couldn’t do anything but keep going forward.

 _Stop,_ Sophie pleaded. _Please, stop. I don’t want to see._

But she always did.

***

Sophie jerked awake as though someone had shocked her with defibrillators. She laid there, breathing too heavily, her throat too tight, eyes too full of tears.

“Shit,” Sophie whispered, picking up Ella and draping her over her eyes. _“Shit.”_

She let Ella soak the tears from her eyes, allowed herself two whole minutes to let herself go, and then Sophie forced herself to stop. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t keep having these dreams every night. She wasn’t going to get much sleep for the rest of her life if they didn’t let up.

 _Sometimes things that are out of our control happen to us, and they suck, and there’s nothing we can really do but let it suck,_ Sophie told herself. That’s what the grief counselor had said during that brief, gray area of time in Sophie’s life right after, when nothing in the world made any sense anymore. Her family was gone. Sometimes life was just like that, with nothing to sweeten the pain. Sometimes the only way to get out of the awfulness was to just…let it happen to you.

 _Sounds like a party_ , Sophie had grumbled back to the counselor that day, to which her counselor had entirely agreed, but reassured her that there was a light at the end of that tunnel. Sophie knew that if someone was smart enough to be a grief counselor, then they probably knew what they were talking about, but _god_ , Sophie wished the tunnel would run out and she’d be back in the sunlight again soon. She was tired of hurting.

Sophie sat up, taking in her surroundings again. The Moonlark room. Everglen Ranch. Montana. She was ages away from home. The thought made her shiver a little, but a tiny part of Sophie’s mind wondered if being away might help.

 _Like a new start_ , that little part of Sophie’s mind suggested.

The sky outside was still dark, but tinged with the creeping grey light of dawn. Sophie crawled out of bed, Ella in tow, and went to sit on the window seat.

A shrill whistle sounded out in the world below her, followed by a “Giddap!” that sounded like Alden. Sophie squinted and saw a few large moving figures out by the barn, heard the thunder of scores of hooves on the ground.

“Stupidly early hours, indeed,” Sophie mumbled, her mouth still heavy with sleep.

She leaned her head against the windowpane and watched sleepily as dozens and dozens of cattle streamed from the barn, a couple of men seated on horses corralling them out. She wondered briefly if Fitz was one of the riders before letting her eyes shut and allowing sleep to lull her back down.

When she woke again, dawn was breaking across the wide green plains. The sun was also shining directly into her eyes. Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed them, figuring the light was probably what woke her.

There was a light mist lingering close to the ground outside, shimmering in the morning light. Sophie straightened and scooted away from the window a little bit as the back door opened and Biana strode across the deck, already dressed and looking flawless in jeans and a cardigan. Sophie watched as she walked across the yard, a basket in one hand, and disappeared behind the barn.

Time to be awake, Sophie decided. She grabbed her favorite hoodie from her backpack and threw it on, trying to pull her hair back into something resembling presentable. Now, if only she could remember the way to the kitchen from here.

She needn’t have worried. All she had to do was follow the faint scent of something burning.

“Good morning!” Della said brightly as Sophie wandered into the kitchen.

She was standing by the sink, running a charred frying pan under the stream of water.

“I tried to cook up some eggs for breakfast,” Della explained. “But I turned the burner up too high and I burnt it all. I could’ve sworn that was how hot it needed to be…well, clearly I was wrong.”

Sophie shrugged, offering a small smile to Della. “It’s fine.”

Fitz was sitting at the table, already clothed, as well. He grinned and held up a cereal box. “Not to worry. We keep loads of Lucky Charms on hand for this type of crisis.”

Sophie sat down across from him at a place with a clean bowl and spoon. “Perfect.”

“Alden and Alvar are out with the cows already,” Della said as Sophie poured herself some cereal and added milk. “They’ll be out until late this afternoon, I expect.”

“I go with them sometimes,” Fitz explained as Sophie began eating. “But I thought I’d go with you and Mom to Havenfield Ranch today, just in case you needed me.”

Sophie felt that cloud of butterflies flutter again at “in case you needed me”.

“Havenfield Ranch?” She asked after swallowing a bite of Lucky Charms.

“That’s the Ruewens’ home,” Della told her. “I think you’ll like it. It’s got a certain charm.”

Sophie swallowed her next bite of Lucky Charms, not tasting it.

The Ruewens. Her distant, distant relatives. Livestock veterinarians. The people she’d pretty much be living with for the foreseeable future.

That cloud of butterflies in Sophie’s stomach now felt like wriggling worms. She set her spoon down, feeling nervous. What if the Ruewens didn’t like her? What if they were really weird? Would she be allowed to just stay with the Vackers, maybe? Could she ask Mr. Forkle about that?

“You like them, right?” Sophie asked Fitz.

Fitz smiled. “The Ruewens are _great_. Real nice folk. Promise.”

“They’re excited to meet you,” Della said, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and laying a hand on Sophie’s arm. “You have nothing to worry over. We’ll be right there with you.”

Sophie swallowed and took a slow, deep breath, nodding.

She trusted the Vackers. They’d been nothing but hospitable. Even Biana hadn’t been outright rude to her.

“When do we meet them?” Sophie asked.

Della smiled encouragingly. “We can head over there whenever you want.”

So she had a choice. That felt good. Sophie took another bite and thought for a moment. It would be easy to say they could wait until the afternoon, wait until Sophie might feel more ready. But maybe she should go ahead and just go for it, like ripping off a band-aid.

“Can we go once I get dressed?” Sophie asked after swallowing her bite.

“Sure! Whatever you want is fine by us, darlin’,” Della said, giving Sophie’s arm a reassuring squeeze.

Sophie nodded, feeling a little surer of her choice.

It was time to meet the Ruewens, ready or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO REALLY, COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOWDY YALL!  
> I'm so sorry that it's been so long since I updated this--here's chapter three for your reading pleasure!
> 
> COMMENT and let me know what you think so far! Ya girl craves validation!!

If Sophie had had any doubts that this was cowboy country before, they were put to rest on the drive to Havenfield Ranch.

Two specific things sealed that deal for Sophie. The first was that as soon as she, Fitz, and Della got into the Hummer and drove out of the massive U-shaped front drive and onto the road, Della turned on the radio and flipped to the country station.

Sophie closed her eyes for a moment and prayed for strength—she knew country music was just another music genre preference, but Sophie could barely stand country. Something about the twangy guitars and the deep, drawly men’s voices grated on her eardrums, and they always seemed to be singing about getting a girl drunk or the adventures they went on in their trucks. Sometimes her family would tease her for listening to too much punk by turning on the country radio in the car, but they’d only ever been teasing her. They hadn’t cared for country, themselves.

“Do you know a lot of country music, Miss Sophie?” Della asked as they began cruising down the country road back in the direction of Eternalia.

Sophie bit her lip, hiding a grimace. “Can’t say I do.”

“I gotta feeling that’ll change pretty fast, being here,” Fitz told her, nodding his head gently in time with the song.

Oh, god. Welp. Sophie would be fighting that with every chance she got. She lifted a hand and touched the headphones hanging around her neck, resolving to use them at every point when she knew it wouldn’t be rude.

Probably not right now. Later, though. Definitely later.

The second way Sophie knew this was cowboy country literally appeared in the middle of the road halfway through their journey.

Sophie blinked a few times, unsure if she was really seeing what she thought she saw. “Is that...”

“A bison? Sure is,” Fitz finished, grinning at the shock on Sophie’s face.

In theory, Sophie knew that bison were large animals. Looking right at one, however, felt very different; this thing was _huge._ Massive, covered in a shaggy brown coat of fur, horns, everything...Sophie felt like she was dreaming.

“Aren’t they, you know...extinct?” Sophie mumbled, still staring at the bison, who seemed content to continue chewing on whatever was in its mouth and stall in the middle of the road.

Fitz looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she blushed.

“I mean,” Sophie hurried on, “obviously not _extinct_ , otherwise this would be a miracle.”

“They were almost extinct,” Della explained, coming to Sophie’s rescue. “We almost killed all of them back in the late 1800s, but people around here have been specifically raising them ever since then. They don’t even classify as endangered anymore, which is a relief.”

“I think they’re only near-threatened now?” Fitz said, frowning in thought. “I think. I’d have to look it up to confirm.”

“So does that mean this one ran away from home?” Sophie asked, watching some of the grass in its mouth drop out onto the road.

“Some of them still roam free, so probably not,” Della said, sighing. “I don’t want to spook it, but I told the Ruewens we’d be there in time for a late lunch.”

Della let the car coast forward a couple of feet while gently tapping the horn. The bison’s head bobbed, still chewing, and it finally began a slow mosey across the street.

Sophie shook her head, still staring as they drove past the bison and continued down the road.

“Not in Kansas anymore,” she muttered under her breath.

She thought she’d been quiet enough that no one would hear her, but she heard Fitz snort. She glanced at him, but his smile was still kind, and the cloud of butterflies in her stomach took off again.

“So what do people listen to in San Diego?” Fitz asked after a while of comfortable silence, punctuated only by the country music station. “Not much country, I expect.”

Sophie shrugged. “Uh, there’s plenty of alternative pop, like Billie Eilish and Imagine Dragons…”

“So you know a lot of pop?”

“I know…some?” Sophie said, tilting her head side to side in a “so-so” gesture. “I mostly listen to punk stuff. Punk rock, pop punk, all that.”

“I dunno much punk,” Fitz admitted. “Name a couple groups. Maybe I’ve heard of them.”

“Groups that are still around and making new music are groups like Panic! At the Disco and Fall Out Boy…the popular ones that are disbanded now are My Chemical Romance and Green Day…then there’s original punk rock, like The Ramones.”

Fitz frowned in thought. “I think I’ve heard kids at school talk about the disco one, but I know I haven’t listened to them.”

The corner of Sophie’s mouth twitched. “That’s totally fair. Pretty sure the only country artist I know is Carrie Underwood.”

“No Brad Paisley? Miranda Lambert?  Luke Bryan? Florida-Georgia Line? Maybe Hunter Hayes?” Della asked, resting her elbow on the open car window and trailing her hand through the breeze.

Sophie shook her head.

“Not even the Dixie Chicks?” Fitz asked, grinning.

Sophie felt her face flush. “I, uh…I know the name Dixie Chicks. But that’s because they, um…did a song with Beyoncé.”

Della and Fitz both laughed at this, and Sophie smiled sheepishly, blushing harder.

“We got a lot to learn from each other, looks like,” Fitz said.

“I’d ask you to play one of your punk songs for us,” Della said, sitting up straighter, “but that fence up there on the left is the border of Grady and Edaline’s land.”

Sophie sat up straighter and leaned toward her window.

Much like when they first reached the Vackers’ land, there wasn’t much to see beyond a fence, loads of grassy land, and mountains in the distance. This land, however, rolled a little more than the Vackers’ land did, and looked less traveled.

And while there was still more land than Sophie could fathom belonging to one family, there wasn’t as much land as the Vackers had, because it did not take as long before animals came into view—mostly cattle and horses, although Sophie spied a few goats here and there.

“There’s the rehabilitation barn,” Della pointed out, gesturing at a large, red barn at the top of a nearby hill. Sophie shook her head in disbelief. It honest-to-god looked like it was straight out of a movie.

At the foot of that hill, closer to the main road but still a ways back, sat a huge white colonial house. _Exactly like the movies_ , Sophie thought, taking in the two white chimneys on either side of the house, the massive front porch, the little alcoves with windows jutting out from the roof. She’d always wanted to visit a house like this, and now she’d be staying in one.

Both she and Fitz started when a loud, terrified whinny met their ears.

Della turned onto the long gravel driveway and slowed as she pulled closer to the house. “Sounds like there’s some excitement going on.”

“Is that the draft horse?” Sophie asked as Della pulled up next to the house and parked the car, at last cutting off the country radio.

“Wouldn’t be surprised,” Della said as she unbuckled. “Verdi likes to make a lot of mischief.”

It didn’t sound like mischief to Sophie. It sounded like fear and pain.

“Do Grady and Edaline use whips on the animals?” Sophie asked, feeling nervous all over again.

“Lordy, no,” Della reassured her as she opened her door and stepped out.

All of a sudden, Sophie’s anxious nerves felt like they were surging through her entire body, turning her into a statue.

She turned to look at Fitz, partly ashamed of how panicked she was, but mostly looking for someone—anyone, really—to help.

“Hey, you good?” Fitz asked, setting his hand close to where hers sat on the seat. “You look a little spooked.”

Sophie gave herself a moment to drown in the teal of his eyes, to try and remember how to breathe normally.

“Um. Yeah,” she rasped, trying to settle her whirling thoughts back into order. It was okay. The Vackers were nice, and they really liked the Ruewens. They actually _knew_ the Ruewens, too, so that was good. And if somehow they weren’t good people, she had Forkle’s number now. It was going to be fine.

“Hey.” Fitz’s fingers settled lightly on top of her own. She felt the fluttering again, felt her face heat when she met Fitz’s gaze, which was overwhelmingly kind.

“Maybe holding a friend will help?” Fitz suggested, gesturing to Sophie’s backpack. “You hold Ella. I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”

Ella. That was a good idea. Ella was family, too. Ella was her best confidante. Slowly, Sophie nodded, feeling the tension in her body ease as she made her arm move to unzip her bag. She pulled out the familiar plushy form of Ella and zipped the bag up again, feeling a little better than before, despite being a little embarrassed. _What will Grady and Edaline think if I walk into their lives holding a stuffed animal?_

Well, screw it. They’d have to deal, because it was happening.

“Thanks,” she croaked, and Fitz gave her fingers a quick squeeze before unbuckling and opening his passenger door.

Sophie heaved in a huge breath, knowing things wouldn’t get any easier, and did the same. She slid her backpack onto her shoulders and shut her car door behind her, holding Ella in a death grip.

Della glanced at the stuffed elephant in Sophie’s arms and slid Sophie a quick wink before putting her hands in her dress pockets and starting up the gravel drive towards the red barn. Sophie followed along, wincing every time another pained whinny rang through the air. What in the world would make a horse that distressed?

Extending out in a bubble next to the red barn was a large corral. Sophie blinked; what looked like a black Clydesdale horse at least ten times larger than she thought horses were meant to be was bucking and thrashing all around the corral, panting up a storm and whinnying in fright. It had a rope looped around its neck, pulled taut, and at the other end of the strained rope was a blond cowboy who looked like he was putting up a good fight.

“Oh, stop being such a drama queen,” the man growled, pulling himself closer and closer to the massive, frightened horse.

Sophie had no clue why he’d be trying to do that. It looked _much_ safer to be far away from that horse. She followed Della and Fitz up to the far side of the fence, observing.

The horse whinnied again, and Sophie winced—it sounded as close to a scream as what she imagined a horse could muster.

“Here goes nothing,” the man panted, and Sophie stopped breathing as he made a flying leap at the horse’s back.

Della hissed in a shocked breath as the man managed, just barely, to hold on. Sophie managed to breathe again when she realized he wouldn’t be trampled, although his hat flew off in the process.

The horse, however, was _not_ pleased by this development. It made a startling noise—almost a roar—and began thrashing and bucking even harder.

“I’m trying to _help_ you, silly girl,” the man shouted, and Sophie noticed for the first time a small black object latched onto the horse’s front right hip.

The man reached for it over and over, but the way the horse was thrashing, it seemed to take all he had not to go flying off.

“Need a hand there, partner?” Della shouted to the man.

“Nah, almost got it,” the man managed to reply over the howling whinny of the horse.

Sophie blinked, feeling her pulse stutter to a frightening pace as the horse bucked in their direction—it must have heard Della’s voice—and began full-on charging their way.

“Whoa, whoa,” she heard Fitz say, heard both Della and Fitz take several steps back.

Sophie tried to move, but something niggled in the back of her mind.

_Don’t move_ , it said. _Hold your ground_.

That sounded like a horrible idea, with a horse that looked three times the size of most bears charging right for her.

_Don’t move_ , this feeling insisted, and, well, there _was_ a fence right there. It couldn’t crash _entirely_ into her.

Right?

So Sophie stood her ground, against her better judgment, and watched in sheer inner terror as the animal reared up onto its hind legs, came crashing back down a mere foot away from her face…

And then stopped, looking a little stunned or confused.

“Got it!” The man shouted, taking hold of the black object and yanking it away from the horse’s shoulder. Sophie blinked in shock—was that a bat?

The man flung it as far as he could, and sure enough, the black object unfurled its wings and flapped away.

Sophie looked back at the horse, who was looking right at her and panting at an alarming volume. Slowly, not knowing why she did it, Sophie lifted her hand and brought it to the horse’s nose, stroking it with feather-light weight. The horse’s head bobbed gently, accepting the touch, then dropped and rested its head against the top of the fence, looking thoroughly exhausted.

“Criminy, you could’ve been killed!”

The man slid off the back of the horse, and Sophie finally got a good look at him. He was tall, looked to be in his mid-forties, with disheveled blond hair, bright blue eyes, a strong jaw, and sturdy-looking shoulders.

Somehow, Sophie heard herself saying, “Nah, she likes me.”

How Sophie knew this, she had no idea. But it was definitely something she _knew_ , not something she was guessing. Somehow.

It also didn’t escape her notice that her voice came out almost an octave higher than usual, probably from nerves.

The man blinked a couple times, panting, then glanced at the horse. “I…I have no idea how, but it looks like you’re right.”

“Sophie, are you okay?”

Sophie turned her head and saw Della and Fitz jogging back up to the fence, looking at her in concern.

“I think so,” Sophie said, her voice still high.

“Grady’s right, you could’ve been hurt,” Della admonished, putting an arm over Sophie’s shoulders and holding tight, sounding relieved.

So this _was_ Grady Ruewen. One of her new guardians.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, averting her gaze down to her combat boots.

“Since I’m pretty sure she only stopped trying to throw me off because you held your ground, I don’t think there’s any harm done,” Grady said wryly as he retrieved his fallen hat. “Since you weren’t hurt.”

Sophie offered him the ghost of a smile and looked back to the horse. “Is she a Clydesdale?”

“Almost,” Grady replied. “Verdi’s a Shire horse. Biggest breed around. She’s meant to be helping with forestry, but she’s got a mind of her own. We’re trying to train her up, but she’s a bit of a free spirit.”

Sophie, with deliberate slowness, lifted her hand and stroked the horse’s nose a few more times.

“She’s still in pain,” Sophie said, not sure how she knew or why she said it.

“Is she? I expect that vampire bat got a good feast in,” Grady said, coming around Verdi and examining her right shoulder. “Hmm. Probably need to clean that up.”

“Should I go ask Edaline about a wet washcloth?” Della asked.

“No, no, I’ve got access to some in the barn,” Grady insisted, his gaze coming to rest on Sophie.

He didn’t look the way Sophie had pictured, and that suited Sophie just fine—she thought he was rather handsome. He was nothing like her own father, who was stockier, softer, and balding, but that was probably for the best. _Clean slate and all that_.

“Pleased to meet you, Sophie Foster,” Grady said with a smile that lit up his already-handsome features. “I’m Grady Ruewen.”

“Hi,” Sophie murmured, shaking the hand he offered and gripping Ella just a little tighter. He seemed nice enough, didn’t look scary, but only time would tell.

She followed Della and Fitz as they walked alongside the fence towards the barn, the direction Grady led Verdi.

“Boy, if there was any surefire way to impress Grady, you definitely just did it,” Fitz remarked as the three of them wound their way around the barn to the doors.

Sophie felt herself blush, and she shrugged. “Sheer dumb luck, I guess.”

But she knew it hadn’t been just that. She had no idea where that niggling voice in her head had come from, but she was grateful it had spoken up.

The barn was tall and roomy, what Sophie imagined was the farm-y version of a towering cathedral. Most of the barn was currently empty, since the animals were out grazing, but there were a few horses in some stalls farther in the corner.

Grady was wringing out a wet rag into a basin when they walked in. Verdi twitched a little as Grady began gently cleaning her wound, but one of her eyes caught Sophie, and she knickered and let it happen.

“You two have made a connection, all right,” Grady said, shaking his head and sounding amazed. “You usually good with animals?”

“I—I guess I was okay with my cat,” Sophie stammered, not knowing how to explain.

Grady grinned, and Sophie hoped she saw respect in his eyes. “Must be one hell of a cat.”

Sophie’s insides twisted painfully at the thought of Marty, but she put on her best front and nodded.

Grady took a tin of salve and dabbed it on Verdi’s wound. “If it keeps bleeding after lunch, I’ll apply some gauze. The wounds don’t look too deep, though, so this might do it.”

“She’s a sturdy thing, she’ll be fine in no time,” Della reassured him.

They all had a moment in only half-comfortable silence as Grady led Verdi into a large stall and closed the door behind her.

“Well, we might as well head inside. Edaline’s got lunch nearly finished,” Grady said, and Sophie felt a brief moment of solidarity with him—he sounded as nervous as she felt.

The back of the colonial house had a large deck attached to it, with an outdoor dining table that looked like it could seat at least twenty people.

“We have a lot of ranch hands that help us out around the rehab barn,” Grady mentioned when he noticed Sophie staring at the dining table. “We insist on feeding them well. Takes some space, though.”

So she wouldn’t be alone out here with just Grady and Edaline all of the time. Some of the nerves in Sophie’s chest loosened their grip.

Grady opened the door and waved everyone in after him, smiling at Sophie. She felt a shy smile tug at her lips in return as she stepped into the house.

It was like Joanna Gaines herself had designed the inside of the Ruewen home—Sophie was greeted by whites and neutrals, shiplap, rustic touches, and cozy farmhouse-style furniture. The place was spotless, too. It almost didn’t look lived in.

“Need any help, Eda?” Della called into the kitchen.

Sophie heard the clank of a few dishes, and a soft voice replied. “Just finishing up, Dell.”

A tray of what looked to be chicken salad sandwiches made their way towards the dining table to Sophie’s right, carried by a woman in a pale blue plaid shirt and jeans.

The woman set the tray on the table and came around to meet them. It seemed fitting that a man as handsome as Grady would be married to a woman this beautiful—Edaline had rosy cheeks, turquoise eyes, and amber-colored hair that looked like it curled on its own. It looked like she’d taken the hair that framed her face and braided it, tying the braids back like a half-ponytail.

She frowned. “What in the lord’s name have you been doing, Grady? Why does your hat look like Verdi trampled it?”

“Because that’s exactly what she did,” Grady replied, removing his hat and trying to straighten it out.

“I’m sorry, y’all, I told him to be presentable,” Edaline apologized, giving Grady a stern look.

Della laughed. “With the ruckus Verdi was making, I don’t blame him for being a little rumpled. That horse has enough vigor to rankle anyone.”

“Ah, you know better than that, Dell,” Grady resisted, grinning at his wife. “You’ve seen Edaline in action.”

Sophie tried to picture Edaline where Grady was only minutes ago, wrangling with Verdi, and while it was a little difficult to picture, Sophie believed every word.

“I’ll go clean up quick so I won’t be refused from the table,” Grady said, bustling away.

“Sophie, this is Edaline Ruewen, Grady’s wife and my best friend,” Della introduced them.

Edaline’s eyes fell on Sophie, a tentative, half-smile on her face. She nodded and extended a hand. “Pleased to meet you, Sophie.”

Sophie shook her hand, not at all surprised by the firm grip Edaline had. Where Della Vacker struck Sophie as a queen, Edaline Ruewen struck her as a boss. Maybe even boss with dollar signs instead of ‘S’es. She looked like a woman who knew exactly what she was about.

“Welcome to our home,” Edaline said. Sophie heard the nerves in the woman’s voice, and it softened her own nerves a little more.

“Thanks for having me,” Sophie said, not knowing what else to say.

“I hope you’ll all stay for lunch. I made enough for everyone, and I’ve got a mallowmelt cake in the oven.”

Fitz straightened, eyes bright with interest. “Ooh.”

It had been a while since Sophie had eaten chicken, but the chicken salad sandwiches were delicious, as was the caprese bowtie pasta salad. And mallowmelt cake, it appeared, was a fudgy chocolate cake soaked in butterscotch and covered with marshmallow frosting speckled with chocolate chips.

“I checked your file to make sure you didn’t have any food allergies,” Edaline mentioned as she served Sophie a generous piece of the cake.

“Nope, none,” Sophie replied as she took a large bite of the divine-smelling cake. It tasted even better than it smelled.

“Oh wow,” she mumbled around her bite, coaxing a grin from Edaline.

Sophie fought back a grin as Fitz helped himself to a third piece, ignoring Della’s admonishment. Grady did one better when he came back downstairs, fresh from the shower, and ate four pieces.

“Thanks again for the steaks you brought around the other day,” Edaline told Della. “We’ve been marinating them ever since and we want to grill them up for dinner tonight.”

“Steak sound okay for dinner, Sophie?” Grady asked.

Sophie shrugged, nodding. “I haven’t really had much steak. Not much meat, in general.”

“Oh, no, are you a vegetarian?” Edaline asked, looking worried. “The file didn’t say anything about that. We can always change our plans—”

“Steak sounds _great_ ,” Sophie insisted. “It’s just really easy not to eat much meat in San Diego. I didn’t really do it on purpose as much as it just happened.”

“We do eat our fair share of meat around here,” Grady admitted. “I fire up a mean grill, if I do say so myself.”

“But if you ever want vegetarian meals, just say so,” Edaline reassured Sophie. “Or I can see if the store in town has tofu.”

Sophie shook her head. “That’s fine. I’ll eat what you eat.” And steak _really_ sounded good.

Della stood up. “We’ll probably need to head back soon. Can we help with dishes, Eda?”

Edaline waved her off. “Don’t worry yourself, I’ve got it.”

Sophie felt some of her nerves return as she helped stack dishes to make them easier to carry to the sink. So far, Grady and Edaline seemed nice enough, but being left alone with them?

_It can’t be that different from Mr. Forkle leaving_ , Sophie tried to convince herself. _Plus, they’ll still be in the area. Kind of. Too much darn land everywhere._

“Miss Sophie, would you mind if I saw your phone?” Della asked.

Sophie blinked. “Um. Sure.” She unlocked her phone and handed it to her.

Della smiled and tapped the screen a few times, then handed the phone back to Sophie. “There. You have my number and Alden’s, plus our landline. If you need us for anything, even just someone to talk to, you can call us anytime.”

Having the Vackers’ numbers felt a little more comforting than Forkle’s—probably because she felt like she knew the Vackers better than she knew Forkle.

“You can come visit anytime, too,” Fitz said, smiling. “Plus we’ll see you at school, too.”

Sophie nodded, taking a deep breath. “Thanks.”

Della squeezed Sophie’s shoulder, giving her an encouraging, “take heart” smile, then turned to the Ruewens. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing you plenty in the coming days, which suits me just fine. Thanks again for lunch. We’ll head out before Fitz can steal the rest of the mallowmelt cake.”

Sophie couldn’t help a giggle as Fitz blushed crimson.

Edaline’s eyes lit with mischief, and she disappeared into the kitchen only to reappear with a disposable box in her hands.

“Just to spite your mama,” Edaline stage-whispered conspiratorially to Fitz, winking, “here’s some pieces for later.”

Fitz’s face was positively on fire, but he grinned sheepishly at Edaline and took the box. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Then he turned to Sophie and tipped his head. “And I’ll be seeing you, Sophie.”

Sophie couldn’t help the cloud of butterflies swarming again in her stomach as Fitz grinned at her and followed his mother out the front door.

She and Grady and Edaline watched from the door as the Vackers got into the Hummer, started back down the gravel drive, and headed back in the direction of Everglen Ranch.

Grady looked down at Sophie and grinned. “You game to look around the place?”

            ***

“Wait, really? This room is mine?” Sophie asked, surprised as she continued to stare around.

The room was no Moonlark room, but had to be the next best thing. Clean white walls, wood floors, large, fluffy grey area rug, polished dark wood queen bed with non-gaudy floral canopy curtains, a cozy reading chair next to a bookshelf, and—what had to be Sophie’s favorite part—an honest-to-god fireplace on the left wall.

In fact, it wasn’t the next-best thing. It was the _best_ thing. It was a blank canvas, just waiting for Sophie’s touch.

“I hope it’s okay,” Edaline said, looking around the room as if examining for any flaws.

“Are you kidding? This is great! There’s a whole entire fireplace in this room!” Sophie set her backpack and Ella at the foot of the bed, just to make sure they knew she was staking her claim.

As it turned out, the bathroom right across the hall was entirely hers, too—no sharing with anyone, which was a first. They showed her where their master suite was, then gestured at two of the three remaining doors off the hall and said that they were their offices.

Sophie thought about asking what the third door was, but then she remembered about their daughter, Jolie, and decided against it. She’d never asked the Vackers how long ago Grady and Edaline had lost their daughter, and now she wished she knew—was that a recent loss?

They didn’t say she couldn’t go there, but they also didn’t invite her to explore, so Sophie figured she’d keep her distance for now.

They briefly showed her the basement, which was basically where old farm equipment went to die, and then they gave her a tour of the rehabilitation barn, the much smaller barn nearby for the livestock they owned, and then told her that sometime soon they’d take her riding so she could see all of their land.

“Can’t do it right away, though,” Grady apologized. “We’ve got a few chores to finish before we start making dinner. You’re welcome to explore a little on your own, though.”

And Sophie did. She found a spot in one of the lofts in the rehab barn that she thought would be the perfect hideaway place to come and listen to music; she found a big rock right at the edge of the big pond on their land where she could dangle her feet juuuuust above the water and see the minnows below; and she found a path leading towards a nearby wooded area that she vowed to follow another day.

The sun was nearly set once they sat down to their steaks—and oh boy, Sophie could not believe she hadn’t had a steak in so long. It might have been that it was a good Vacker steak, though, Grady had explained—they always gave them excellent cuts of meat as gifts. Sophie surprised herself and ate the entire thing, savoring the marinated flavor, each bite practically melting in her mouth.

“Feel free to spend tonight unpacking,” Edaline offered, a somewhat sad smile on her face. “Please make yourself at home, okay?”

“Thanks,” Sophie whispered, offering a small, sad smile in return and heading for the stairs.

On the one hand, she felt better about making herself at home here—Sophie was sure she would enjoy living in a place like Havenfield. On the other hand…of course she wished that she didn’t have to be here at all, no matter how pleasant Grady and Edaline were. What she wouldn’t give…what she wouldn’t give.

Sophie closed the door to her room behind her and sighed, going over and picking Ella up again, holding her to her chest for support. She wasn’t sure how she felt, knowing that she could unpack things tonight—unpacking would make everything feel real, feel official.

Sophie leaned against one of the bedposts and pulled her backpack up, unzipping it. God, it was pitiful just how little she had. She set Ella on the pillows and walked around the room, depositing things where they went. The small handful of her favorite books and her journal went on the bookshelf. The few clothes she’d packed went into the drawers of a vanity dresser. Her phone and charger went on the nightstand, along with a portrait of her family from three years ago, when they’d bothered to get one.

Sophie grit her teeth and pulled out the most unusual item in her bag—a beat-up, charred license plate. She wanted to clean it, but looking at it made her too damn sad sometimes. But this was it, this was all that she had of them now. This she set on the mantle above her fireplace, angled so she could see it from the bed.

_Like they’re watching over me or some crap_ , Sophie thought, giggling for a second, and then tears blinded her vision and Sophie had to sit down in the reading chair and let herself go.

She was extra-generous with herself this time and let herself cry for as long as her body felt like it needed to, but then she sniffed, wiped her eyes, and sat up straight. _Okay. That’s enough of that. No more. This is where we are. This is how it is now. And I need to allow myself to get used to it without going to pieces all the time._

She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth, finding a place for her toiletries in the bathroom, and then turned out the light in her room and snuggled into the massive bed with Ella.

As much as she felt out of her depth here in Montana, in cowboy country, Sophie…hadn’t hated everything about it. In fact, she thought a lot of it was pretty interesting. If any place could give her a clean start, give her new things to explore, it was Montana.

Grady’s grin and Edaline’s soft smile came to mind, and it wasn’t bad, Sophie thought, to have people in your life who smiled at you like that.

_Maybe the start of something new won’t be so bad, after all,_ Sophie admitted as she fell asleep, Ella curled against her chest.

**Author's Note:**

> COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS. I'M BEGGING YOU. NO REALLY. I'M BEGGING.
> 
> (also come follow me on Tumblr at @silveny-dreams; I talk a LOT about KOTLC. Also cowboys.)
> 
> Much love to you all xx


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